A COUNCIL spin doctor is facing a ‘moonlighting’ probe after launching a public relations business online.

Fiona Cohn earns more than £40,000-a-year as a communications manager at Birmingham City Council.

But she is now at the centre of an internal probe after setting up a public relations business online, allegedly without declaring it to her bosses – which may have broken council policy.

Ms Cohn insists her website, FC Communications, has not yet conducted any business and had been set up only in case she is made redundant.

Yet the site appeared to be open for business when the Sunday Mercury visited it on Wednesday. An introduction blurb stated: “We are a communications consultancy based in Birmingham, specialising in strategic communications. With more than 25 years professional experience advising private and public sector clients we have a wealth of experience that can help your business achieve results through better communication.

“Whether you need to engage your workforce so that you achieve greater productivity, or have a communications project that requires expert delivery, we have the experience to make it happen.”

The PR manager may also come under scrutiny over testimonials posted on the website, some of which appear to heap praise on FC Communications for successful work carried out.

These include a comment from the city council’s Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources, Councillor Alan Rudge.

But it has emerged that his statement was not a personal endorsement of FC Communications.

In fact, it was an excerpt from a personal letter Coun Rudge sent to 50 council workers some time ago, thanking them for their contribution to a council event.

The FC Communications website says it was set up in 2010 “with a mission to provide the best communications advice to help businesses achieve better results, we offer a full range of communications services, ranging from local projects to major national work. We can offer you a no obligation quote now, so contact us for more information.”

When contacted by the Sunday Mercury Ms Cohn said that although she set up the site in June, she had not yet carried out any business.

She insisted she had made the site ‘live’ on the internet merely in readiness in case she loses her job in looming city council cuts.

She said: ‘‘I set it up to have it in the background. It was just something lurking, languishing there in the background, to fall back on should I be made redundant at any point. I, like many others at the council, am facing the threat of redundancy.

“The testimonial from Councillor Rudge was, as you say, an excerpt from a letter sent by Mr Rudge to a number of people. And yes it was not a thank-you to FC Communications.

“If it has been taken out of context, then I apologise and I would not want to offend Mr Rudge.

“I will look again at the testimonials... it may be better that I disable the site for a while. But you won’t find it if you do a Google search, it’s very much something lurking in the background.”

The website – which had been the first ‘hit’ which came up when FC Communications was typed into Google – was disabled and taken down soon after our conversation with Ms Cohn.

Birmingham City Council refused to comment other than to say the situation was “an internal council matter which we are looking into.”

Insiders later claimed there appeared to be “an issue with the fact Ms Cohn didn’t declare her intention to set up the site”, despite the existence of a clear policy which states: ‘‘Staff are required to declare if they have any additional employment outside the council. Staff will not be permitted to take up such employment if it has an impact upon their work with the council or if there is a conflict of interest with their role within the authority.”